After Hebbal, tunnel road along ORR stretch on D K Shivakumar’s agenda

Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Sunday said the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is preparing a feasibility study to build a tunnel road along the Outer Ring Road (ORR) between Yeshwantpur and Sumanahalli.

With the upcoming metro project getting diverted to Peenya, officials mentioned the possibility of the tunnel road at the seven-kilometre ORR stretch, while many dubbed the project unnecessary.

“We are preparing a feasibility report for tunnel roads near Yeshwantpur, Sumanahalli, and Goraguntepalya, among others,” Shivakumar said at a grievance redress programme in RR Nagar on Sunday. He also recalled many projects announced in the state budget for Bengaluru, including the tunnel road proposed at the Hebbal junction towards Mehkri Circle.

Officials said the agency tasked with a feasibility study on decongesting traffic in Bengaluru is exploring various mobility options on the 198-kilometre stretch. “The tunnel road is one of them,” they said.

A senior official told DH that the traffic bottleneck primarily occurs at Goraguntepalya. They proposed that acquiring a parcel of land owned by the Indian Air Force could effectively alleviate this congestion.

Flyovers next to metro line

Another of the Bengaluru Development Minister’s pet ideas is to build an elevated corridor beneath upcoming metro projects to cut down on land acquisition expenses.

“We have decided to build flyovers on certain stretches of metro lines to decongest the traffic,” Shivakumar said, adding that a proposal has been forwarded to the central government regarding the idea.  

Shivakumar stated at the grievance meeting that once digitisation is done, the BBMP will deliver property documents to citizens’ homes.

“A pilot project of document verification was done in the RR Nagar constituency and some officials have tried to tamper with documents. A complaint has been registered against them and an FIR has been filed,” the DyCM said.